Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-10-12
AN ECONOMY FUNERAL
Simplicity Of the Harmonists' Views
of Death and Heaven.
Mon and Women Who Expect Each Day
20 SEQ tho Second Advent, When
They Can Lay All Their Pos
sessions ut Christ's Feet.

AueT9 was Iuner0l az ECONOMY tno
other day, writes a correspondent from
that quaint Pennsylvania hamlet to the
Philadelphia Press, and one less Of the
virtuous men who hold their own peculiar
ideas OF worldly, aye, and spiritual
things, Is In this rapidly decreasing
colony. Often as the Economics, or moro
properly the Harmonists, have been writ
ten about in newspapers and magazines,
no writer has given any account Of their
many quaint ideas and customs in connec-
ton with death. Nor have they told any
thing OF the creed beyond the fact that
two of its most distinctive features are the
holding OF all property in common and
the practice Of celibacy. The Harmonlsts
have no fear Of death. They believe that
for oil who have been good and faithful
members Of the Harmony Society eternal
happiness is certain. They reject the
doctrine of everlasting punishment and
hold that as the purpose Of carly all the
punishment inflicted by man is largely the
reformation of the offenders, SO Gods pun
ishment Of the wicked is designed to make
them good and flt them for Heaven, where
they will ultimately be received.
Complete subm ission to the will of their
temporal governor and spiritual leader
they regard as one OF the highest end
most imperative forms Of Christian duty.
One good old Economic sister told me
that blessing could not fail to follow inn
plicit obedience to the commands of Faith
or Henrici, who for more than twenty
years past has been the absolute head OF she
society-its prophet, priest and king and
the dictator of all its rules and reRula-
lions.
In Economy there Is a we'll equipped
doctors Office, supplied with drugs and
medicines Of all kinds. It is visited daily
by physician from the town of Baden,
who is engaged by the year to attend tho
entire community. II Harmonist falls
sick simple home remedies, in the compo-
sitiOn Of which many OF the old women
possess rare skill, arc first tried. Should
these fail the doctor is summoned. His
efforts are assisted by the united prayers
Of the whole society, for though the Har-
monists are not faith-curers, they believe
the efficacy OF prayer to be absolutely
without limit. When death snsues word
is quickly passed from house to house that
oil who desire to do so may look once
moro upon the features of the deceased.
The last farewells taken, the corpse Is
wrapped in Q winding sheet and placed in
a pine coffin. In this, as in all things per-
tanning to their social usages, the Har-
monists simply follow the customs that
prevailed in the little village in the king
dom Of Wurtemburg, Germany, whence
the founders of their society emigrated to
this country In 1906.
Women are not permitted to attend the
funeral services. Only the nine elders, of
whom Jacob Heinrich and Jonathan LEM
are tho leaders, and q few Of the more In
innate friends of the deceased assemble
at the house where the body lies. No
hearse with nodding plumes and snowy
trappings conveys dead Harmonists to
their last resting place. Opposed as they
are to display and ostentation in every
thing, they deem it most reprehensible In
connection with death. After q few brief
remarks by Father Henrici the coffin Is
borne out upon the shoulders Of four stall
wart men and placed In an ordinary
wagon.
Ever since the Harmonists settled In
their present location they have been ac-
custOmed to bury their dead In their
orchard, large Enclosure Of many acres
made beautiful by exquisitely-kept vel.
vety laws and graceful peach and pear
trees A portion OF it has been separated
palings, within which Father Rapp, the
founder Of the society, and his many fol-
lowers who have gone to join him calmly
sleep their last sleep.
Within the orchard, q few hundred feet
away, there is q terrnced mound, some
twenty feet in height. 1t Is believed to be
an Indian burial mound, and the Harmon
lists have been often urged to excavate it
but have always refused, saying that since
they would not wish the last resting-place
OF their loved ones to be desecrated, they
can not so violate the golden rule as TO
disturb even that Of q savage
The graves Of the Harmonists are not
designated by mark Of any kind. A regis
ter and ground plan Of this primitive GEM
etery are strictly kept, and the aged Har.
monist who has charge Of It can from
memory give the name and point out the
grave OF every individual buried there.
To this quaint place of interment the few
attendants at Haromist funeral follow
on foot the wagon that conveys the corpse.
AT the newly-made grave a prayer Is Of.
tered by Father Henrici and a hymn IL
sung, the latter being selected from the
strange old hymn book which Father Rapp
complied In 1895 expressly for the society's
use. 1t contains some hymns from the
old Wurtenberg collection, while the
others are Of Father Rapp's own compo-
s;tion. After the hymn the coffin Is lower.
ed into the grave, each person advances
and casts down upon IL q few flowers, and
the simple ceremonies are ended.
Much that seems strange In the faith
and practice Of the Harmonists Is readily
accounted for In the fact that ever since
the formation Of their society, In 1896,
they have daily expected the visible, per-
sonal second coming Of the Redeemer.
The sun never rises upon . new day that
they do not expect to see In the heavens
the signs of His glorious advent,
and to read therein the glorious
news that the end Of the